Changing Lives is a project engaging Arabic speaking young people with digital arts and community cultural development. The project empowers young people with skills to make and tell their own stories and share them on the internet.
Phase One
The first phase of the project saw seven young Iraqi women living in Western Sydney make digital stories about their experiences of how they got to Australia, their time in detention, the family they left behind and their dreams for the future.

The films were broadcast to a packed out crowd at the Sydney Arab Film Festival in Parramatta on April 13, 2008. Some of the videos were also broadcast at the Museum of Sydney on Saturday 26th April.
Links
Changing Lives is a project of ICE, Switch and Auburn Community Development Network.
ALL PROJECTS
Digi Diaries
»» ICE’s latest digital storytelling project engages young people from Muslim communities throughout Western Sydney. Digi Diaries aims to empower young people (aged 12 – 25) with skills to make and tell their own stories and share them with broader Australian communities through public screenings, forums and on the internet.More »
The Story Exchange 2009
»» In June 2009 ICE and Penrith City Council partnered to run a series of workshops for young people from the suburbs of Londonderry, Cranebrook and Oxley Park. Participants created photographic and digital stories that explore themes of neighbourhood strength, pride in place, local identity and passion for the environment.More »
East London West Sydney
»» An exciting new hip-hop theatre project led by artists from the hip-hop and urban cultures of the UK and Australia. These artists explore the urban experience and struggles, and share an emphasis on word flow, storytelling and place.More »
Fairfield Stories
»» Part of the ‘Digital Storytelling: Sustainability and Community Media in Western Sydney’ project, Fairfield Stories tells tales of journeys, love, struggle and hope as experienced by people of Cambodian and African backgrounds.More »
CREATE Media!
»» Create Media! is an exciting new project managed by ICE and supported by the Westpac Foundation. The project offers free targeted training and mentorship for young people from a refugee background. The training provides participipants with in depth knowledge of the A-Z of digital arts and business.More »
Parenting Stories
»» Sudanese and Central African families are invited to share their parenting stories in an exciting community media project which will open a discussion around parenting in Australia. It will look at the issues faced by recently arrived migrants as they deal with settlement, cross-cultural issues and the new legal context, as well as the resources available to assist them.More »
Urban Music Project
»» Music workshops for diverse young people in Western Sydney with support from the Vodafone Australia Foundation.More »
Changing Lives
»» Changing Lives is a project engaging Arabic speaking young people with digital arts and community cultural development. The project empowers young people with skills to make and tell their own stories and share them on the internet.More »
Ali Kadhim: Parkroar
»» In 2007, new media artist and parkour practitioner, Ali Kadhim, received an Emerging Producers in Community (EPIC) grant from the Australia Council to work at ICE for a year.More »
Lattice::Sydney
»» In February 2008, UK-based artist-led studio Proboscis shared their ground-breaking techniques and practices in social mapping with a select group of Western Sydney artists.More »
Sydney Arab Film Festival
»» The Sydney Arab Film Festival is emerging as an important event on the Sydney film and screen arts calendar. The 4th Festival screened from 10-13 April 2008 at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta.More »
DigiTales
»» ICE is the first Australian partner in the global digital storytelling project – DigiTales. This collection of unique local tales made by Sydney’s emerging media talent is now online.More »
EMERGE Media Initiative
»» Working with Western Sydney’s small and emerging communities to build radio & communication capacities. More »
Connect OUT
»» Working with isolated communities accross Holroyd and Parramatta with hands-on information technology access and skills. More »
PARRAMATTA SCREENING
»» A three-year initiative to building film and screen-based arts skills and output in the Parramatta area. Bringing Parramatta to the screen and the screen to Parramatta.More »
Remembering Minto
»» ICE worked with residents and agencies to collect and publish the stories and memories of Minto – a suburb lost in urban transformation.More »
DIS/PLACE
»» Making art in exile: an innovative development program working with recently-arrived migrant and refugee artists. A partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art and Campbelltown Arts Centre.
More »
Originate
»» A mentorship program in community cultural development and digital media.More »
Youth Digital Cultures
»» A three-year youth digital arts and skills development project driven by creative and diverse young people from all corners of Western Sydney. More »